10 things you didn’t know about Kevin Durant

Kevin Durant is going to go down as one of the greatest scorers the NBA has ever seen. For as famous as he is, he tends to keep a low profile relatively to other sports superstars. We’ll take a closer look at 10 facts that fans may not have known about Durant previously.

Durant and Michael Beasley’s NBA careers could not have gone much differently, but they’re going to be linked forever. Both were the second overall picks in their respective drafts in 2007 and 2008, respectively. Over and above that, the two formed a close bond growing up together in the DMV area near Washington, D.C.

Durant told ESPN in 2013 that he and Beasley were “always together every single day up until 10^th grade.” Beasley told ESPN in 2018, “Back then, I was the rebounder. People don’t know. I had like 30 rebounds a game. All offensive rebounds and everything. Get an offensive rebound and just throw it out to KD. Shooting them off from 40 feet.”

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Durant is one of the most lethal shooters in NBA history, but he loves taking photographic shots away from the court. He received a camera for his 27^th birthday, and he wrote in The Players’ Tribune that he brought the gift everywhere he went. He said, “I’ve already gained a lot of respect for photographers because you have to be ready all the time. You never want to miss a shot.”

Durant was actually a credentialed photographer for Super Bowl 50, as he jumped at the chance to snap photos at one of the biggest sporting events in the world. He wrote, “I may just be starting out, but I also like to think that at my height, I might have some different angles than other photographers. After all, you’ve got to play up your strengths.”

Durant said that the tune from Clipse was his theme music when he walked into an arena or steps on to the court for pregame warmups. He said that the song never fails to put him in a positive mindset.

The NBA star told Hot 97 radio in 2020 that his top five rappers of all time were Drake, J Cole, Kendrick Lamar, Young Thug and Gunna.

It was no secret that Durant was a basketball prodigy, and he had the attention of all the major college basketball programs back in the 2000s. According to the Austin American-Statesman, Durant considered attending Duke, North Carolina, Louisville or Kentucky, but he didn’t want to have the same journey as so many other blue chip prospects. That’s why he played college hoops at Texas.

Durant would later say that he wanted to set his own path rather than follow in the footsteps of others. But in an alternate universe, he might have elected to go to North Carolina. He told 247 Sports, “They were recruiting me heavy with Ty Lawson. They were expecting us to come together… I went to a game where they beat Duke at the buzzer.”

Kevin was raised with his brother Tony. Durant told ESPN about his sibling, “He was the first person I hugged when my name was called. We went through so much together that people don’t know about… My mom always told us that in the end, we only have me and him, we only have each other.” Durant also has two half sisters named Brianna and Rayvonne from a previous relationship his father had.

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Many people might not realize that Tony Durant was also a big time basketball player. Tony worked his way from Butler Community College to play for Towson. Tony and Kevin’s grandaunt was also instrumental in raising the boys, in addition to their mother Wanda.

As one of the most dangerous scorers in the NBA, Durant has had no shortage of nicknames created on his behalf. He was not particularly fond of the 'Slim Reaper' nickname, saying in 2014 to Sports Illustrated, “I’m here to shine a bright light. I’m not here to be a guy of, I guess, death. We’ll see what happens with that, but I just like KD better.” Durant has since changed his mind.

In 2024, Durant said he has come to embrace the moniker. He says he accepts it now because he feels like he’s accomplished enough in his career to warrant it.

According to CBS Sports, Kevin Durant and his mother Wanda have confirmed that his favorite food is crab legs. His love of seafood was used as a recruiting ploy in 2016, as Legal Sea Foods offered him unlimited crab legs to sign with the Boston Celtics. Syracuse city’s website even said that Durant modeled one of his Nike signature shoes after a Maryland blue crab.

According to Seafood Nutrition Partnership’s website, Durant eats seafood at least six times a week, including meals like salmon, sea bass, scallops and shrimp. His chef Ryan Lopez said, “Seafood is light, east to digest, offers energy and helps with muscle recovery. As a trained chef, it needs to be healthy but I make sure it tastes good, too.”

Perhaps it’s no surprise that growing up in the DMV area, Durant became a Washington Commanders NFL fan. He told Sports Illustrated about quarterback Jayden Daniels in July 2024, “Everyone is rallying around him, we feel like we got a player that can take us somewhere now. I feel like he pops off the screen when you turn on the TV.”

As a guest on the Up and Adams show in September 2024, Durant said his least favorite team is Washington’s rival, the Dallas Cowboys. “I just don’t like them. It’s probably 75 percent of people in Washington, D.C. that are Cowboys fans. I just hate that they don’t stay loyal to the crib.”

Durant said to SNY, “my first NBA jersey was Vince Carter when he was in Toronto.” He told The Dallas Morning News in 2013, “I was a big Vince Carter fan.” Many millennials in Durant’s generation took a liking to Carter, as his athletic dunks kept children mesmerized in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Shortly after Durant was traded to the Phoenix Suns, he had a question and answer session with fans of his new team. In that setting, he would say that his favorite player growing up was Michael Jordan.

NBA players often choose to show off the ink they have on their bodies, but Durant does not fall into that category. It might surprise a lot of people to learn that Durant has a bunch of tattoos concealed by his uniform.

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According to Essentially Sports, Durant’s tattoos are religious in nature and feature some verses from the Bible. He also has tattoos of Tupac Shakur and Rick James.